Medical Treatment Resulting in Malpractice: Who Is Responsible?

Victims of medical malpractice go through immense physical and emotional pain.

Negligence on the part of a health care provider not only causes injury or illness to the patient, but also inflicts mental stress and emotional trauma to his family members. To make things worse, the victim often has to spend huge sums of money on medical treatment for the injury or illness caused by medical negligence. In some unfortunate cases, the victim can even get killed because of medical negligence, leaving family members to suffer emotionally and financially.

Recovery

To take financial burden off the victim or his family members it is beneficial to file a lawsuit in order to claim compensation from the party at fault. However, medical malpractice cases are quite complicated and it may become quite difficult to figure out who is responsible for the negligence. An experienced St. Louis medical malpractice lawyer can help you get compensated by skillfully investigating and litigating the case. Anyone, including the physicians, hospital staff, nurse, pharmacist, or any other health care provider can be held responsible in a medical malpractice case.

Who is Responsible?

The doctor or surgeon may be held responsible in cases of prescription drug errors, surgical error, misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, or inadequate or negligent care after surgery. If the physician or doctor has acted negligently in diagnosing a disease, offering correct treatment for the condition, prescribing medication or wrong dosage of medication, or patient care after surgery, you may have a valid claim for compensation.

Surgeons can also act negligently by performing wrong side surgery, wrong person surgery, leaving a foreign object inside the patient’s body, causing infection, or performing the wrong procedure. If you have experienced any such act of negligence on the part of the surgeon, consult with a medical malpractice attorney.

The nurses and other hospital staff can also be held responsible for medical malpractice. If the nurse failed to provide the correct dosage of medication at the right time  resulting in harm to the patient, they can be held responsible. Any other hospital staff member that was involved in the procedure that was performed negligently can also be held responsible for medical malpractice.

Hospitals are often sued for various kinds of medical negligence. Hospitals can be held liable for the negligence if they have faltered in hiring the health care employees, who have acted negligently; prescribing wrong medication or wrong dosage; if the staff members falter in diagnosing or treating a condition; or if they refuse to admit the patient.

Pharmacists can also be held liable in a medical malpractice case if they give wrong medication, or fail to put warning stickers. If a medication or a medical device has harmed a patient, they may be able to recover compensation from the manufacturing company.

St. Louis Medical Malpractice Lawyers

If you or your loved one has suffered at the hands of a negligent health care provider, a knowledgeable and experienced Missouri medical malpractice lawyer at Zevan and Davidson can evaluate your case for free and help you determine if you have a valid claim for compensation. Contact an attorney at (314) 588-7200 to schedule a free and private consultation.

photo credit: phalinn via Flickr